Research - Cut Scenes
by NightOwlCC
Summary: Scenes that are divided from the "Research" series. These follow the same context as the full series but had been cut out because of adult themes or violence, physical interaction and slightly disturbing content for younger teens and children. This way, I was able to keep the overall rating of "Research"
1. Shameless: ending scene

The silence between them was unnatural and so, he broke it.

"We should be heading to bed..."

She hummed in agreement. "Yeah, go ahead, if you want."

"What about you?"

"I think I'll smoke one, then... I don't know. But I'll be quiet, don't worry."

His instincts were correct once more. "I think I could use a minute or two outside."

The Italian nodded. She took a cigarette and a lighter, as Kurama went on and opened the door to the balcony. The girl crossed the living room and followed him outside, then lit her cigarette and took a deep breath of the night air combined with smoke.

"Do you plan on sleeping tonight?" he asked, leaning against the railway with his elbows.

Amara stood by his side, leaning with her back against the metal edge and looking up towards the sky.

"Probably not."

"Do you mind sharing the reason for that?"

The Italian shrugged. "I'll get nightmares. Why sleep and wake up every hour or so, when I can stay up and avoid all that? With some luck, by tomorrow night, I'll be too exhausted for nightmares."

"Is this the usual, or...?"

"I remembered a few things I shouldn't have... It's alright, though. It happens sometimes."

A thought was spinning through his mind. Had she been an Asian girl, he wouldn't have dared to ask for something like this, given it could have been taken as an insult. However, the West raised its girls differently. After a minute of silence and Amara blowing out several small white clouds, he brought himself to say it.

"Would you still avoid sleep if you were to have some company?"

Slowly, she turned her head towards him. Her violet hair was hanging over her shoulder and high above the city below them.

"I don't know..." she whispered, right before putting out the cigarette butt. "We should buy an ashtray," she pointed out as she straightened her back and slowly stumbled inside.

"We will," Kurama agreed as he followed and closed the door between the warm, slightly humid air of the living room and the cold, dry air of the city.

Although she didn't answer his question directly, she didn't deny it either. She simply stopped there, waiting for a hint on what was going to happen next.

"I wouldn't mind you, you know..." she sighed.

Taking the opportunity, Kurama wrapped his arms around her waist loosely and set his head over her shoulder. A few violet curls were blocking his view, but that didn't matter much.

"Nothing has to happen unless you want it."

Amara wasn't nearly as stiff as he expected her to be, leaning back against him and enjoying the warmth of his embrace. Taking another chance, he placed a kiss on her neck, followed by another, and soon, he felt her trembling just a little, as her lungs held onto the air.

Twisting herself around, she wrapped her arms around his neck and felt her chest and hips pressed against his own.

"I'm scarred... It's hard for me to believe someone like you could ever be attracted to me, especially since you've seen them before."

"I don't think I've seen those scars close enough to decide," he mumbled into her hair.

Amara could have sworn there was a purr in his voice, which sounded a little deeper. She was also certain he was grinning, though she didn't see him long enough before he had lowered himself between her jawbone and her shoulder. His breath was hot against her chilled skin.

Pulling away, Amara got the chance to see him through the dim light of the city night. It was never truly dark in the city, and his eyes were gleaming with greed. After a brief moment, she kissed him and shut her eyes, as she felt his hands already lifting her shirt and tugging at her bra. It was too soon for that to come off, it was only a tease, but her skin was crawling in anticipation.

Only seconds later, she felt him leading her away, but to her surprise, it wasn't the couch. Amara felt the cold, hard wall behind her and his hands cupping her cheeks and rubbing her thighs. She didn't mind losing the ground beneath her feet, not when it meant feeling his hips between her thighs much stronger and better toned than she had expected from a brilliant student who spent most of his time in the lab.

Kurama tried to earn a sound from her, but for a brief moment, he nearly gave it away before her. Amara had locked her legs around his waist, and then she pulled him closer, pressing their bodies together. He massaged her legs and her hips, slowly lifting her shirt as he tried to find her weakest points by kissing and nibbling all along her jawline, neck, and collar bone.

Once her hot skin was in contact with the wall, Amara instinctively arched her back to try and keep away from it. This led Kurama to focus on her chest as soon as her shirt was off his hands. Working fast and precisely, Amara found the buttons of his shirt and opened them one by one. She could feel his teeth running just above her skin, hunting for a spot to leave their mark, while his hands had already worked their way into her jeans.

Just bellow her right cheek, Kurama felt the unmistakably soft scar tissue. Her left hip had also revealed its weakness. He couldn't help but imagine the agony that came with so much of her skin burning off, and the slow and painful healing process that followed.

"Is it alright if I do this?"

Amara felt his hands running over her scarred skin which had made her so ashamed of revealing her legs to anyone. A light chill ran through her body.

"Yes, it doesn't hurt or anything."

"But do you like it, or just tolerate it?"

After a moment of hesitation and a kiss, Amara gave him a sly grin.

"I haven't felt it long enough to decide."

Recognizing his words from before, Kurama let out a light chuckle. He picked her up better and carried Amara to the extended couch which he had previously prepared for another lonely night's sleep, and as he laid her down, he traced his hands over her legs and pulled off her jeans. He then took off his unbuttoned shirt and climbed over her.

Amara had caught him into a deep and passionate kiss, while she was feeling his body. To her surprise, there were a couple of scars, but none of them seemed recent. However, there was no time to lose herself in thought. Kurama wasn't exactly patient in that given situation and she could feel that in every touch. His weight was pressing down on her as she was trying to unbuckle the belt holding his pants.

For a moment, Kurama stopped. He had decided he needed to help Amara get rid of his clothes as those were no longer tolerated between them. The sight of the Italian on his sofa in her underwear was turning him on more than he had first anticipated when he had seen her laying on the carpet not too long ago. There was no sight of disgust in his mind - on the contrary. Her markings sparked his curiosity and drew his attention in a positive way.

This time, he stopped with his head between her knees. There was a faint pink creeping up on her and he could hear her pulse with ease. Smiling, he began to play a game. Ever so slowly, his hands slipped from her knees to her hips on her outer thighs, and to his surprise, he heard her gasping and locking a breath of air in her lungs. A thought crossed his mind - what if he could make her pant and moan without touching any private parts? That would certainly be an achievement or at least an interesting investigation.

Grasping her cheeks and massaging her legs, he began working her up, only to slow down to barely tracing his fingers over her thin skin the next second. The alternating pattern was broken only by a couple of kisses which he chose carefully so that when he left his first mark, he heard her whining softly. Taking the hint, he continued until he felt her trembling in his hands.

As his focus shifted upwards and he explored her body, Kurama kept the rule in mind. Despite his painful desire to consume the act, he kept her underwear on and continued to tease Amara in less than obvious ways. He had marked her most sensitive points around her hip bones and ribs, right below the metal frame of her bra, on the soft inner side of her elbow and right by her wrists. The only pay he needed was to hear her trembling voice moaning and whining lowly, her heart pounding inside her chest, and the heavy breaths escaping her teeth. She was biting her lips trying to hold back, but Kurama's victory was plain to see.

"Have you decided yet...?" Kurama asked her while taking a short break from the teasing.

Her skin was crawling with lingering sensations and excitement.

"Do you really need an answer?" she mumbled through a smile.

"Yes," Kurama insisted.

For a moment, Amara was mad. Why did he have to be this way? Did he need the praise? She thought not. Couldn't they skip through all this talk and save it for the morning after?

"...I like this, but I'd love it even more if you could just... You know..."

"I'm not sure I know... This?"

Hot from the blood running through his veins much faster than normal, his hand slipped underneath the lace of her underwear. This was a whole new level of teasing and so, it didn't take him long to hear her pleading. Moving swiftly from one thing to the other, they eventually ended up naked and performed the act, but it was the brief moment before sleep which made him rethink the entire situation.

In his demon form, he had taken many women for himself - some just once, a few several times, and he knew how to read them and what to deliver. The more sentimental would lay on his chest and praise him, in hopes of reaching some deeper feelings in him, while the less sentimental would usually act as not much happened and go back to the usual coldness of demons.

However, Amara did something else. She did what no demon or animal or any living creature that had to fight for its survival would ever do. She turned her back on him, sharing the same pillow and looking for the warmth and closeness of his body, but also exposing herself as her most vulnerable. She was fast asleep - he couldn't blame her for that, but... she trusted him completely, just like family.

This was the first time he noticed this kind of behavior in a woman. Kurama pulled the covers over both of them and made himself comfortable on his side, wrapping an arm around her. This thought had stayed in his mind until reality would fade into darkness - she trusted him like family.


	2. Skeletons: Kurama's memory

_**Warning: **__gore, death, and emotional abuse_

* * *

"We were completely in the dark until a few days after I thought I had Yomi killed. One of our men was returned to us in the early hours of the morning. We had fallen asleep collectively - something which had never happened before..."

The memory had returned to his mind as fresh as ever. It wasn't anything easy to forget, after all, but the accuracy surprised him the slightest. It had been 948 years since that day. The band was mellowing down, getting some rest, and looking forward to their first raid after Yomi had died, or so everyone thought. They had set camp in the heart of the forest, deep into the mountains in the north and close to a fortress that belonged to air apparitions. It was known as impenetrable, so Youko has been spending the past week planning their raid down to the second, making sure he won't lose any men in the process. They had seen better days, as their group barely counted 28 demons, including himself and Kuronue, but 7 of them were wounded too severely to participate.

As Kuronue fancied himself as more alert at night, he was staying watch along with five others in six strategic points around the camp. That had been Yomi's job previously, but what was done, was done. The two preferred not to think about it. Youko kept busy planning, which was the reason why he was awake when the day began to break. The sky was barely turning a dark blue, but the forest was quiet... All of a sudden, there were no animals around, no birds chirping, no insects, nothing.

That's when everything went black.

He came back to his senses after some time. The sky was turning red in the far distance, so it must have been only a few minutes. Regardless, it was alarming. If this had been only Youko, he would have brushed it off as a sign of exhaustion, but Kuronue had fallen off a tree and was asleep on the ground. The guards were all sleeping on their feet, leaning against one another or tree trunks. One had fallen into a bush of thorns and was sleeping in it as if it was the comfiest armchair. Then came the stench... The air was electric with it, a very strange combination of blood and mold, rotting flesh, plant sap, roots, puss.

Trying to ignore the migraine, Youko stood up and went to wake his partner. There were no signs of an ambush, nor of a struggle of some sort, which was impossible. Kuronue never fell asleep on the job, that wasn't like him. He bent down by his friend.

"Kuronue? Wake up. What happened?"

Groggy and with a heavy frown, the bat struggled to open his eyes.

"What the...?" He looked around, disoriented, trying to understand what was he doing asleep on the ground when the last thing he remembered, he was on a pretty high branch. He saw the entire camp struggling to wake up, their bodies numb and their heads pounding in pain. "I... I got no idea. What's that smell?"

Youko stood up and carefully walked around the camp. Everyone was there and aside from a few self-inflicted bruises, they seemed fine. The stench came from the tent where the severely wounded were. Curious but cautious, Youko opened the fold of the tent and let himself inside. Once again, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. His men were still alive, not any better, but not worse than the last time he checked on them.

The stench was becoming unbearable and by that point, the entire group was searching for its source so they could remove it. Youko knew he had to be close, so he walked around the tent. The sight he saw made his stomach turn and his bones crawl. It was much worse than anything he had witnessed.

"Kuronue...? I found Inuki."

The name caught everyone's attention. As soon as they saw their former member, one of the bandits threw up. He only had time to turn away from the body. His hair had been cut or ripped off with parts of his skin. One of his ears was crushed to a limp piece of skin, left to rot on the side of his face. The right eye was flooded with blood and looked badly infected. His cheeks had been burned with acid and his tongue cut into thin strips of flesh. His left shoulder was crushed with numerous strikes, and his bone was exposed on his arm. A strip of bone had been removed to make way to a marrow-eating parasite that had nested and was thriving, laying sacs of eggs where it had eaten the marrow. The other arm had acid holes in it, marks of red iron, cuts, and snake bite marks. His legs were in a similar condition, used as breeding grounds for parasites and mushrooms, but his back was by far the worst. His flesh and his ribs had been removed so that around 20 different species of plant hybrids could take root into the demon's internal organs. Most were carnivorous plants that ate away at his flesh or tried to devour their neighbors.

The worst realization came when Youko and Kuronue bent down to Inuki's level. His heart was still beating. The demon was trying to speak something, but he was missing teeth, his tongue was barely recognizable and his throat hoarse. The fact that he seemed to recognize who was around him was truly heartbreaking, but then one of the thieves who was a telepath shook his head.

"...He's gone. He makes no sense."

Kuronue looked up at the telepath. "What's going on in his head?"

"He's fighting some people. He's in... a dungeon or something? And there's this huge poppy in the corner. I mean, it looks kind of like a poppy, but it's got those luscious leaves that look like hearts, and the flower is kind of like a trumpet."

"A hybrid," Youko guessed. "What else?"

"Someone opens the door, but the image is twisted. I think there's a mark on their face, like a mask or a tattoo. It covers the forehead and goes down the temples on both sides. The demons all look completely drained of emotion. I think they might be controlled."

Youko and Kuronue looked at each other. "Or brain-washed," Kuronue said. They had seen something similar before.

"You two," Youko looked at two thieves who seemed to have a stomach of steel. "Put Inuki out of his misery and burn his body so nothing spreads from it. Drag him out into the clearing to the east we passed on our way here." He stood up and walked away from the body, waiting for the telepath to follow.

Kuronue ran in from of him. "Wait! Are you just going to give up on him?"

"There's nothing I can do, Kuronue. Move out of my way."

"You always can do something. You're not even going to try?"

Youko placed his hands on his friend's shoulders. "His mind left him. His body is falling apart. The only reason his heart is beating is probably that he received a shot of adrenaline, or several. They kept his heart beating to attack us emotionally."

Kuronue shook his head. "He's been with us for 200 years! You can't give up! I know he's in a bad shape-!"

"Let him go, Kuronue! I'd have to stitch together an entire body for him. He's not even bleeding anymore because he's already dry. There's nothing but adrenaline keeping his heart beating. He's dead, Kuronue, accept it! I don't even know what plants are feeding off his internal organs!"

His friend needed a moment to fully understand the last sentence. "...You don't?"

"No, and I have no time to analyze the lineage of each. He won't last that long. Those are hybrids obtained from breeding other hybrids. Who knows how many generations of experimental hybrids are behind each plant? I've counted at least 20 on his back alone. There could be more. It's too much, Kuronue... I'm sorry."

"I see something!" the telepath called out. "A woman, I think, in a long dress. It's luxurious, purple, gold, yellow, layers over layers of fabric. And his child! Oh, shit...! No fucking shit!" The man shivered in disgust. "Holy fuck. She ripped out the heart of his kid."

"That's impossible," another thief intervened. "His woman and his kid are in hiding, I just talked to them yesterday."

"Maybe his mind slipped," a third thief tried to explain the image. "I can't imagine what kind of torture he's been through."

All of a sudden, the two men who were asked to drag the body away and burn it began to have involuntary spasms and fell down. It looked like they were having seizures. At the same time, when they moved the body, the skin and flesh from Inuki's abdomen and genitals had peeled off. It was burned to a crisp.

"Poison?" Kuronue asked, wary of getting near them but eager to help.

"Possibly. Neurotoxins, I suspect," Youko said as he examined the scene. "Everyone, use gloves and cover your airways before you come any closer. Try not to make contact with anything - flesh, blood, saliva, sweat, anything. Move these two into a separated tent and burn Inuki's body right here and from a distance."

Before anyone could argue, Youko materialized a wide leaf and scraped off the plants from Inuki's body with a sword, along with some flesh that would keep them alive. If their enemy had created these, he had to study it so the next time, they could be prepared. There was no way he would wait around to lose even more of his men at the hands of that psychopath.

Bringing himself back to the present time took some effort, but eventually, Kurama managed to focus on the crisp night air and his empty glass of wine. He was on his balcony, talking to Amara. There was no point in giving her nightmares by going through the details. Inuki had died a horrible death because he took that woman's offer and chose a military career showered in riches. "The men I had clean up the camp and burn the body were paralyzed for days simply from having made contact with the said plants."

Amara's expression changed from disgust to pure horror. "Oh, God... Just from touch?! Paralyzed?"

"Four to seven days, yes. I was unable to heal them sooner."

"Do you think... Yomi...?"

Kurama looked away. "I've suspected it for a while. Now that I've seen him with the Shadows, I am almost certain."

Amara dropped the cigarette as it burned her. "Shit!"

* * *

_**Author's notes: **_

_I thought I had already posted this. Excuse me and enjoy the double update._


	3. Nightmare: the night

_**Warning: **__lemon, dominance_

* * *

"Haven't you questioned me enough?"

Thornless, fibrous vines slithered from underneath the extended sofa and up the girl's legs and back. Before she could do anything, a vine picked up her hairpins from above and placed them against the ceiling, wrapping her deactivated weapon into a cocoon of vegetation. Instinct told her to struggle, but she was unable to fight back without her weapon. As the sun had already set, but the curtains were still in place, Amara couldn't even see in front of her.

A pair of large hands picked her up like a doll and laid her down. The vines were still wrapped around her lower body, which did give her an odd sense of security, but then her tank top was being pulled up. Both the vines and his palms filled the space between her body and the fabric as he pushed up her arms and led her top over her head. He had her arms bending over the armrest of the sofa as more vines reached up from below to hold them in place. Unlike her weak, human eyes, he could see rather well through the darkness.

Youko took a moment to admire her fragile frame. It was obvious that she had been training her body for many years, it was toned and harmonious, with a few minor battle scars every here and there which proved that she had survived. At the same time, if he wanted, he could fit her ribcage in the space between his thumbs and index fingers. He ran his hands over her arms and shoulders, descending towards her chest and down to her hips, then back up again. She shivered, but there was anything but cold in Kurama's home. The air was always rather warm and humid, a mandatory requirement for raising most of his plants without using demonic energy.

His claws passed over her hip and felt the fragility of the scar tissue, her skin paper-thin, and nearly splitting over under his fingertips. The demon heard her heart pounding. He decided to focus on her upper body for now and play with her breasts.

"Moan for me."

Her eyes widened in surprise. Amara had slept with Kurama before, but he never asked her so directly, or in any way at all. She was at a loss, distracted by his touch, and caught with her guard completely down.

"Wh... What?"

The girl felt his hair soft and cold laying over her frame as he approached her ear.

"I dislike repeating myself, little girl..."

Bliss was quickly tainted by fear. What did he mean by that? Amelia was hesitant in asking for an explanation. Why did the two sides of him have to be so different?

Youko took his hands off her and savored the look of disappointment and need on her face. He took off her shorts and her underwear. The vines turned her on her stomach, so that she would be facing away from him - not that she could have seen much either way. What she could do was feel, and as soon as she was in position, with an unforgiving sound of air being cut, she felt something land on her thigh. She gasped in shock as she realized her skin was burning in pain. However, she didn't have time to focus on that as another hit followed quickly, and then another. Amara's gasps turned into whines of pain as the beating continued and her eyes spilled the first tears.

Her scars hurt the most. She was certain her skin had burst several times, yet there was no sign of stopping. The sound terrified her, as Youko began to tease her even more. Sometimes, the twig would land on her ass, already bruised and cut. Some other times, it landed on her thighs, completely covered in fragile scar tissue. Every now and then, it landed on her back, which still hurt, but not as much, and then he'd drag it around for a moment.

"...Do you understand now? I prefer obedience."

Hopeful that he would stop, Amara nodded. She couldn't bring herself to do anything else.

"What was that...?"

As another hit landed on the fine border between her thighs and her cheeks, the girl screamed. "Yes! I... I understand."

"And...?"

Amara couldn't figure out what he wanted to hear next. "I'll be good...!" Another hit followed, hitting the fragile skin behind her knees. "Please! Please, stop... Please..."

The begging brought a smile to his face. She had seemed like a rather strong fighter, used to a little pain. Youko looked at the clock. It took him a little over ten minutes to have her begging. "That's much better."

She could feel drops running down the sides of her thighs and hips. Amara had no idea what to do, but she sure wished she would have gotten a warning of some sort before all of this began. Her entire body was shaking, though not so much in pleasure. All that changed the moment she felt a gentle hand on her behind. It traced the bruises and cuts with its fingers, then went away for a moment.

Tasting her blood from his fingertips, the demon bent down over her and licked some more straight from the places where her skin had split open. He traced the swelling traces and the forming bruises with his tongue as Amara trembled under him and sobbed, trying to catch her breath.

"Now, do as I asked," he warned the human. He had slipped his fingers between her folds and was pressing and rubbing one of the most sensitive points on her body, riddled with nerve endings and heavily irrigated.

The moaning came naturally out of her mouth as she held onto the vines restricting her hands. The more he worked her up, the faster she climbed towards her peak. Amara threw her head back, sighing and moaning his name. Her back had arched, lifting her ass to allow Youko more room for his hand. Amara felt his free hand caressing her body, moving from holding her neck to playing with one of her breasts or squeezing her ass.

To hear his name coming out of a woman's mouth this way had always pleased him. He took the chance to enter her with two fingers as she was in the middle of his name, just to hear Amara running out of breath. She was instantly riding his hand, dripping all over. He may be able to fit inside her if she was excited enough.

"I want to see you," he purred as he took his hands off once again. This time, the vines were retreating as well. Youko sat with his back against the vertical pillows of the extended sofa.

"I-I can't see you..." Amara didn't move. She was telling the truth - no matter how she wanted to obey, she was clueless where Youko had gone.

That's when he took her hand like a gentleman and led Amara into his arms. He set her on his lap and she could feel how hard he was. Placing himself at her entrance, Youko smirked and let his hands rest idly on her hips.

"Your turn, child."

Terrified, yet desiring, she tried to fit him inside of her. After the first few moments, he pressed down her hips, forcing her body to stretch and adjust around his form. Amara let out a breathless moan and closed her eyes. She couldn't believe how far he had gone. The girl began moving slowly before Youko grew impatient again and began to push himself inside of her faster and harder each time.

Half-crying, half-moaning with every thrust, Amara clang to his body. Youko was delighted to see her climbing so soon. He loved the expression on her face, the sweat running down her back, and her breasts jumping on her chest. He held her close to his chest and finally kissed her. The demon told himself that he wanted to hear her moaning in his mouth, with his tongue down her throat, but he was more curious about how her lips felt on his. Amara returned the passion, wrestling his tongue if nothing else. She sucked his lower lip and kissed Youko like the world was going to end. She felt like she was going to pass out from all of the sensations running her body like a marathon.

Once they reached the culminant point, Amara heard Youko letting out a few groans that sounded more animal than human, but managed to turn her on even more. She remembered it, though she was too dazed to point it out then. The girl fell over him as soon as he allowed her the rest, panting to catch her breath and certain she would wake up with a very sore throat tomorrow, aside from barely being able to move in general.

"...Not bad, for a human," he grinned.

Amara was dying to talk back but held her tongue this time. She clung to his shoulders, though much softer now, and let her head on his shoulder.

"Some wine would go perfect right about not, don't you think?"

"...I might have to leave you my half of the bottle," she framed her refusal as an offering and struggled to slip away from Youko's grasp. There was no way she was going to keep her eyes open for much longer.

"That's an interesting change of attitude from you."

When she didn't reply, the demon laid her on her stomach beside him, then went to the kitchen to get himself a bottle of the Italian wine he had bought with Amara while in his human form. He couldn't help but feel a sense of... sympathy? Or maybe affection? He had hardly ever paid attention to this before, and it was difficult to differentiate between these human emotions. Yet, something was clear - he had made up his mind about her. His human side felt deeper than his demon side, but he found within himself a desire to make her his, and logic told him that service was her language that he needed to speak.

Youko unsealed the bottle with his claw, removed the cork, then poured himself a glass. He never gave anything for free, but he felt alright after many years, so perhaps he could consider tonight an exchange... He took out the utensils he would need and began raising the plants, while also sipping from the wine occasionally. Either Amara had good taste in wine, or Italians were really good at preparing this beverage.


End file.
